A. Field of the Invention
This relates to monitoring the state of a bridge for the detection of possible collisions. This is important in order to maintain or insure the continued integrity of the bridge as well as for forensic purposes.
B. Prior Art
There are many other prior art references to monitoring events involving collisions. Some of them involve cameras and some involve real time sensors.
Some of the prior art in this area includes Forbes, U.S. Pat. No. 6,894,606, which is a vehicular byproduct monitoring system that essentially mounts a camera for a means to record data concerning collisions or accidents. Another reference can be found at Minakami, U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,025, which is a traffic or transportation system. Again, the stated purpose is to monitor events for forensic as well as to insure the continued integrity of the structure.
Many references exist in the prior art that relate to collision detection systems. Some of these include Riley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,024, Breed U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,129 and Gillis U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,412. These references discuss the use of collision information as it relates to automobile accidents. The Riley and Breed references are fact gathering systems while Gillis gathers information to initiate a system to deploy safety restraint device.
Collecting information about the presence of a collision and analyzing that information can be critical in terms of designing systems to insure the integrity of a structure such as a bridge as well as collecting data to avoid a collision. Most of the prior art in this area relates to the gathering of information with regard to automobile collisions. These systems and devices are certainly useful in terms of providing analysis with regard to moving objects, none of the prior art in this area relates to collision and impact analysis with regard to a fixed or stationary structure such as a bridge. However, because bridges generally carry large amounts of traffic and freight and any interruption in that flow could be detrimental to the general public, any insult to the integrity of the bridge should be constantly monitored.